Help in Life of Literacy Skills Essay Example

this paper, I will narrate a time in my life when my good literacy skills have enabled me achieve a personal dream or goal and show how significant the accomplishment was to my life.

It was during my 8th grade studies when we were studying “water quality” as a topic in our science subject. For this unit, the teacher grouped us into groups of four. Ann, Ben, Cate and I were put in one group. None of us really comprehended what watersheds are, and their importance, when we began our project. The instructor’s first assignment to the groups was to read and as well discuss the science chapter from our science books.

This was not a simple task for us since the terminology used in this book was hard for each of us. Therefore, the chapter seemed so hard to all of us even after reading it several times. Thanks to our science teacher who gave some useful strategies on how to read the text and learn the vocabulary. With these strategies, our group was able to accomplish the task assigned to us by our teacher. My fellow group members and I were highly motivated when we saw some results of a local survey of the waste and sewage disposal habits of households and business. These results showed that businesses and households were releasing and dumping some disgusting stuff near the town’s main supply of water used for domestic purposes and drinking.

Moreover, we also listened to some government officials who shed light on some water treatment methods such as watersheds. We also held a debate in class on the merits and demerits of bottled water to our

environment. This added knowledge to our project and we vowed to pursue it until it opens an opportunity for us in life. For me, I was motivated since I always strive to make an impact in my society and improve lives. I knew this was a great opportunity for me to achieve my dream. From some additional research as well as responses to the email questions we submitted to various teachers and speakers, we were able to create some physical model of a watershed as well as a water treatment facility.

In the next assignment, every group was required to identify some key questions about the topic, which would guide them in their further research. We were required to carry out soil and water tests to confirm whether there were any pollutants present. We were also required to learn how to read charts showing safe levels of substances in public water supply as well as other technical documents with the water treatment plan by the government. We compared the test results carefully with the data from the government charts. Our results were disturbing.

There were very high levels of bacteria in the reservoir such that the treatment facility from the government was not addressing the issue to its fullest. This showed that the drinking water for the city residents was not safe. What a wonderful finding! We felt proud of ourselves for such an accomplishment and it made us more motivated. Our teacher insisted that each group should present their results via PowerPoint presentations. He gave to each group a specific format in which we would present our data, questions, recommendations and conclusions. He also informed us

the presentation with the highest score would be presented to city officials in a public gathering and the students would receive a favor from the city council.

Our group worked tirelessly on the presentation- harder than we had worked before. We checked and rechecked our facts, reread several articles, debated and discussed the possible recommendations and edited and revised our presentation to ensure that everything was okay. We memorized the information in our presentation and analyzed the data so that there could be no mistake with our results. We drew the best recommendations through open discussions. When the time for presentation came and it was our turn, my group members and I were bold and loud enough and left the audience clapping and in a loud applause. Students from the other groups were surprised that we had done this much.

Through our classmates appeared puzzled when our presentation was chosen as the best and the one to be presented to the town’s council meeting, my teammates and I were not. We had the best recommendations and thus we were appreciated for our work. The city council promised to implement our recommendations. Each one of us secured a scholarship in higher education. Surely, no one could believe that our literacy skills had gotten us all these.

What a great accomplishment!